Here are 40 questions to test your knowledge of the year’s events
High crimes?
1. President Trump froze $391 million in congressionally allocated military aid to Ukraine on July 3. On Sept. 11, the president allowed the aid to be released. What had happened the previous day?
2. When asked at a press conference if Trump had asked for investigations of Democrats in return for the release of the aid, this White House official said, “That’s why we held up the money.... Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Name him.
3. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, traveled to Ukraine several times to search for dirt on Democrat Joe Biden, aided by two Soviet-born businessmen,
Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas. Before they were indicted on campaign finance charges, they paid Giuliani $500,000 to advise one of Parnas’ companies. What was the apt name of the company?
4. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report in the Russia investigation detailed at least 10 possible times Trump may have committed this type of crime, and referred the matter to Congress. What type of crime did Mueller point to?
The Democrats’ stampede
7. Which Democratic presidential candidate attacked Hillary Clinton as “queen of warmongers” and the “embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the
Democratic Party for so long”?
So sorry
8. This congresswoman said she apologized “unequivocally” after criticizing U.S. support for Israel by saying, “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby.” (Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill.)
9. This NBA team official said he did not “intend to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China,” adding that he had learned to “consider other perspectives,” after he tweeted out, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
10. This member of Congress resigned after admitting to having an improper relationship with a campaign staffer, and issued this apology: “To those who felt like I gave them hope in one of the darkest times in our nation’s history, I’m sorry.”
11. This elected official initially admitted he was one of two men in a photo in his medical school yearbook that showed one man wearing blackface and another a Ku Klux Klan costume, but later denied he was either.
On Earth Two
12. Trump canceled a scheduled trip to Denmark, complaining that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had been “nasty,” adding, “All she had to do is say, ‘No, we wouldn’t be interested.’” What was Frederiksen not interested in doing?
13. President Trump may have broken federal law when he used a Sharpie pen to alter an official government map of areas in Hurricane Dorian’s path. What state did he include, although the official National Weather Service forecast said it was not in the path?
14. In what unexpected place did tardigrades—microscopic creatures also known as water bears that can survive in almost any environment—end up this year after an Israeli craft crashed?
15. During a business roundtable at the White House, what did Trump blame for making him look orange?
International
16. Match the protest-racked country with its initial cause of protests:
Chile • • Sharp rise in fuel prices France • • Presidential corruption Iran • • Pension reforms
Haiti • • Rise in subway fare
Hong Kong • • Bill allowing defendants to be extradited for trial in rigged courts
17. China has forced more than 1 million members of this ethnic and religious minority into re-education camps, where they are compelled to study communist propaganda, pledge support to President Xi Jinping, and stop practicing their Muslim faith. What is this oppressed minority?
a stray 21st-century artifact appeared in a scene in the fantasy series’ final season. What was the offending object?
23. Ali Stroker became the first wheelchairusing actor to win a Tony Award for her role in an unconventional revival of which Rodgers and Hammerstein musical?
24. Which 1970s–’80s music icon didn’t write a memoir that was published in 2019? A. Elton John C. Debbie Harry
B. David Byrne D. Patti Smith
Business
did the company decide to locate its HQ2?
They said it